Mendez, Fall 2014

Descriptions of Composition Projects

You will be writing weekly and towards the goal of understanding better the topics
discussed in class, understanding your own writing process, and of course, meeting the
First-Year Writing Program/course requirements. Be aware that the assignments
difficulty increases as the quarter progresses. You will receive feedback from myself
and/or your classmates throughout the quarter, and these comments should be used to
help you make decisions about your next assignment and the writing process overall.
One thing very important to remember is that assignments, regardless of their
nature/purpose/goal, need to be understood in the context of what is happening in the
classroom. That is, assignments do not happen in a vacuum or in an isolated manner;
they have a purpose that is best understood when you look at them in a holistic way: in
light of the assigned readings, in-class discussions, online work, and assignment
description itself, among others. So, think twice before approaching courses tasks as
unrelated, fortuitous events, for they are not. In the past, students inability to
understand how assignments address, illustrate and enhance what happens in the
classroom led them to misunderstand the task at hand, and consequently, it affected
their performance.
This document includes information pertaining the following assignments or class
components:
Composition Project 1
Composition Project 2
Composition Project 3
Informal Writing
Peer Review
Individual Conferences
Class Participation
Quizzes

Mendez, Fall 2014

Composition Project 1: Describing and Evaluating

Objectives: Reflect on your relationship to writing by analyzing a writing situation.
Develop your sense of audience and your sense of what to include and exclude
about your experiences. Respond to your classmates writing as if you were in a
conversation with the writer about his or her writing experiences.
Task: Describing Differences in Writing Situations
For this assignment, I would like to have you describe some instances in which you
have been engaged and some instances when you have been disengaged in your
writing. It would be helpful if you could be specific about these writing situations.
Who were you writing to and why? What were you hoping to do with your writing
what were you hoping would be the effect? What were the readers responsesthat
is, how well did the writing work? As you think back on these different writing
situations, what did they make you think about yourself as a writer and about
writing? What kind of conclusions can you draw about the role of writing in our
culture and in school situations?
Im interested in hearing about your writing experiences and as you reflect on them
in light of the distinctions we are making, what you might think about the part
writing plays in your life, in school, and in culture.
Specifications:
900-1,200 words
Reflective Letter: Since you will have the opportunity to revise this assignment, you
must attach a reflective letter to the front of your Composition Project 1 final draft. This
is a single-spaced, 1 page (max) letter in which you explain in detail your revision
process for the final draft. Letter should be addressed to your instructor.
MLA format documentation (see Humanities Research and Documentation at
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch08_o.html or The Purdue OWL
at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
As you draft and revise, use peer review feedback, office hours, and The
Drexel Writing Center.

Mendez, Fall 2014

Composition Project 2: Synthesizing and Generalizing from Experiences

Objectives: Research formal and informal sources. Evaluate your information.
Integrate information and quotations from other sources (your classmates, your
family and friends, print or web-based sources) into your own writing. Synthesize
and generalize from different experiences about a subject.
Task: Generalizing about Differences in Engaged and Disengaged Writing
Write an essay for others in the class in which you try to come to some conclusions
about the differences in authentic/engaged and inauthentic/disengaged writing and
their effects on the writers. Think of your own writing experiences but compare
them to what you have read and learned from your classmates essays and in your
research.
From reading your classmates works, can you describe some general differences in
these two kinds of writingthe writers tone or voice, the style, perhaps even such
things as word choice, sentence length, and the lengths of the paragraphs? Can you
tell the differences in the writers connection or commitment to what he or she
wrote in these different kinds of experiences? What might you conclude about the
kinds of writing that generally seem to occur in school settings as opposed to those
that occur outside the school setting? What seems to be the purpose or purposes of
writing done in the school setting as opposed to those done outside the school
setting? These are just some general ideas you might explore in your essay as you
try to explore with your classmates the implications and consequences of these
different kinds of writing.
Specifications:
Research: Your composition should include:
3 classmates postings
2 scholarly sources (print or web based)
1 other source (primary or secondary; scholarly, trade or popular)
900-1,200 words
Reflective Letter: Since you will have the opportunity to revise this assignment, you
must attach a reflective letter to the front of your Composition Project 1 final draft. This
is a single-spaced, 1 page (max) letter in which you explain in detail your revision
process for the final draft. Letter should be addressed to your instructor.
MLA format documentation
As you draft and revise, use peer review feedback, office hours, and The
DWC.

Mendez, Fall 2014

Composition Project 3: Reflection about Writing and Learning

Objectives: Reflect on writing experiences and attitudes toward writing. Be aware
of your audience. Integrate sources into your writing.
Task: In this assignment you are to write a reflective analysis that addresses:
1) What you have learned about writing in Engl 101, with samples drawn from your
own and from classmates writing.
2) Your attitude towards writing now with some speculation on the link between
attitude and learning a skill such as writing.
Specifications:
Your composition should include evidence from your own as well as some
classmates Engl 101 writing
700-1,000 words
MLA format documentation
Citing Your Own Writing:
In your reflective analysis you should provide proper in-text citation of your own
sources, just as you would with any other source in a composition. For sources that
are your own, follow the example below:
In my second project for English 101, I discuss the impact of drafting on my
writing development: I have always drafted because I have been required to.
But I really wanted to reflect analytically on how the process of drafting
actually impacted my overall writing development. Was I becoming a better
writer? (Drafting and Development 1).
Additionally, you should include full citations in a Works Cited. Heres how:
Works Cited
Last name, First name. Title of Project. Course Title. Professor ______ _______.
Department,
Institution. Date project was submitted. Form of Media (Print, Web, etc.).
---. Title of Project. Course Title. Professor ______ _______. Department,
Institution. Date project was submitted. Form of Media (Print, Web, etc.).
And so on
As you draft and revise, use peer review feedback, office hours, and The
DWC.

Mendez, Fall 2014

Informal Writing, Peer Review, Individual Conferences, Class Participation &

Quizzes
Informal Writing
Informal writing assignments are a component of your grade in this course, and
each informal writing assignment carries weight towards your final grade. Most
weeks you will be required to write in response to readings, instructor questions,
conversations with peers, and your ongoing discussion of your projects. Full
description of each weekly posting, if applicable, is found on Blackboard Learn (BbL)
Discussion Board. There are other informal writing pieces that must be submitted
via Message Board. Information about these is found in the Weekly Schedule. The
easiest way for you to keep track of what you need to do is to check the Weekly
Schedule on a regular basis. All basic information you need to know is listed there.
The informal writing in our class basically happens in two ways:
1. Close-ended postings: You are provided very specific questions that you need
to answer in that posting.e.g. some Peer Review assignments.
2. Open-ended postings: The instructor provides you with a prompt, and you
respond to it in whichever way you prefer. This writing is about synthesizing,
critical reflection, discussion, generating ideas, critiquing, reacting to others
ideas, etc.
Either way, informal writing is not about summarizing the readings or class
discussions for the instructoralthough sometimes you might have to summarize
a bit in order to complete the posting.
Weekly writing should be posted online in the corresponding folder on the
Discussion Board Tab or submitted via Message Board, as requiredsee info above.
Minimum length, if required, is included in the assignment description. Deadline
for postings is found on the Weekly Schedule document. If the weekly assignment is
about responding to classmates writing, then reply to that students own
posting. This way both the original text and your response to it can be read backto-back.
In addition, do not attach your work, unless specifically instructed to do so.
Attachments dont work for threaded conversations, and those are going to happen
throughout the quarter. Please copy and paste your assignment into the message
boxit is okay for the document format to get a bit ruined. If required to attach your
work, your work must be submitted in one of the following formats: .doc, .docx,
.pdf, or .rtf.
It is very likely that the instructor will not respond to your postings. The instructor
may participate in whatever online discussion that is happening on a given week,
but on a regular basis, the postings are a space for you to foster an online
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community. The instructor will read and grade your informal writing based on its
quality and adherence to purpose/guidelines.
Last, there is a folder for you to post questions/concerns/thoughts/stories, etc. It is
titled Ask a Classmate. So feel free to post there anything you think may be
relevant to the whole class. Ideally, you will keep an eye on this folder, and will
reply to some of your classmates comments if you will. There is no grade attached
to this folder.
Peer Review
Since giving and receiving feedback depend on each students work and timeliness
with his/her posting, it is very important to meet the deadlines on peer review days.
Your lack of (timely) work affects other students, and definitely affects your grade.
Peer review questions are a collaborative effort between the instructor and the
students.
Before peer reviewing/responding to a classmates paper, read the guidelines for
the task (see assigned readings), you are expected to follow them. Also, reply to
that students own posting; dont start a new thread.
Be aware that if you have no paper to submit for peer review, you wont be eligible
to do peer review for credit. If interested, you can always visit the Writing Center
and peer review your paper there with a peer writing consultant.
About First Drafts: In order to take full advantage of the peer review sessions, as
planned in this course, any first draft submitted needs to be a fully developed
document (with all elements/sections included) even if it still is a work-in-progress.
Mostly incomplete and barely-put-together documents hardly help any student
develop and/or improve his/her critical thinking, reading and writing skills.
Individual Conferences
Individual conferences are an opportunity for you to discuss your writing efforts oneon-one with the instructor. For your conference you must:
Bring 2 copies of the assignment (one for the instructor and one for you to
read aloud from).
Put together 4-5 questions that you want the instructor to give you feedback
on. Include these questions at the end of your draft.
Be on timedue to time constraints and number of students, it is very
challenging to reschedule the conference.
Class Participation
As stated in the syllabus, in-class participation and quizzes account for 20% of your
final grade. Every week there will be opportunities for you to participate in in-class
related activities. In-class participation points are easy points to get, at least easier
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than written assignment points. They require however that you come prepared to
class (having read all assigned materials/ completed all work required), and that you
are willing to fully take part in whatever class activity/discussion scheduled for the
day. The instructor is not expecting you to be an expert on the topic at hand, yet the
instructor expects critical, thoughtful, meaningful contributions to in-class
discussions/work.
Last, in an effort to keep you informed of your progress on this rubric, every three
weeks or so the instructor will report to you how you are doing regarding class
participation.
Quizzes
Quizzes will happen on a regular basis at some point during class time, and will be
based on assigned readings and/or discussed material. Like any other in-class
activity, they cannot be made up. Each quiz will count towards your class
participation grade. Quizzes weight will depend on their level of difficulty.